Over the past year, a sharp increase of unsolicited email, primarily of the commercial variety, has occurred. Advertisers, reputable and not-so-reputable, have discovered that they can use telemarketing techniques without spending a dime for each call. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, a “SPAM” email comprises an email which was not solicited by the email recipient. Certain SPAM emails comprise offensive material, including pornographic text and/or images.
A June, 2004 report from Nucleus Research makes certain troubling assertions, including the notion that SPAM emails cost an average of $1,934 per employee a year in lost productivity. The cost in July 2003 was estimated at $874 per employee a year.
Problems arising from SPAM are not limited to the lost productivity of employees. In a Jun. 9, 2004 report, vnunet.com reports that a third of US households using the internet have said that as much as three quarters of their email is SPAM. According to a recent survey, the effort and expense that Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) are devoting to anti-SPAM measures are failing to stem the rising tide of unwanted email. The sources of SPAM emails, i.e. “SPAMERS”, attempt to keep one step ahead of ISPs. One technique used by SPAMERS is to intentionally misspell certain words hoping that an ISP's email filters will not recognize those misspelled words as SPAM.
What is needed is a more effective apparatus and method to identify, and delete, SPAM emails. Applicants' apparatus and method provide an enhanced ability to identify, and then delete, SPAM emails.